Headset

At this year’s Tokyo Games Show, Japanese purveyor of electronically-augmented fashion Neurowear unveiled the successor to its Necomimi brain-activated cat ears. It's called Shippo, and it's a brain-controlled motorized tail that responds to the user's current emotional state with corresponding wagging. Read More

Along with its 84-inch 4K TV, Sony also chose IFA 2012 to unveil the latest version of its head-mounted Personal 3D Viewer. The successor to the HMZ-T1 we tried out at IFA last year, Sony claims the updated HMZ-T2 model boasts a sharper display, improved sound and is some 20 percent lighter, making it easier on the ol’ neck muscles. Read More

NeuroSky’s brain-computer interface (BCI) technology has found its way into a variety of devices over the last few years, from the MyndPlay media player and MindSet video game headset to the XWave and XWave Sport. The latest product sporting the company’s brainwave-reading technology features a slightly more fun form factor – fluffy, wearable cat ears. Read More

Tech startup Neurovigil announced last April that Stephen Hawking was testing the potential of its iBrain device to allow the astrophysicist to communicate through brainwaves alone. Next week Professor Hawking and iBrain inventor, Dr Philip Low from Stanford University, present their findings at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference in Cambridge, England. In anticipation, Gizmag spoke to Dr Low about the potential applications of the iBrain. Read More

Canon has announced a new augmented reality tool geared toward speeding up the product design process and easing the transition between the conception and execution of a product idea by allowing virtual prototypes to replace physical ones. The Mixed Reality (MR) System will make use of full-scale, three-dimensional computer generated (CG) images that change in real time based on the movements of the user. Read More

NASA has developed a pair of augmented reality glasses designed especially for commercial airline pilots to see during the worst visual conditions. The glasses include a heads-up display showing a virtual overlay of the runway and airport, head tracking technology, and voice controls - features that may help pilots keep their eyes where they're most needed. Read More

Chaotic Moon Labs drew a lot of attention last month at CES 2012 with its motion controlled "Board of Awesomeness," a longboard that a rider controls by gesturing at a Kinect sensor on the front. Apparently though, that was just the beginning. So, how could the studio possibly improve on a skateboard that starts and stops just by having a person move their hands? By not having the rider move at all. The latest creation, the aptly named "Board of Imagination," moves forward just by having a user think about it while wearing an Emotiv EPOC headset. Read More

Bose has unveiled its new Bluetooth headset. The Series 2 headset features the same form factor as the original, but now comes in left- and right-ear versions. A2DP streaming has also been added, alongside Bose's Adaptive Audio Adjustment technology that automatically adjusts the speaker volume in response to changes in ambient noise levels - keeping the volume down when in a quiet office and pumping up the volume when you step out in to a busy street, for example. Read More

Known for PC hardware such as high-speed DRAM modules, power supplies, solid state drives or USB flash drives, California-based Corsair recently announced a new range of peripherals aimed at PC gamers. The Vengeance lineup consists of two mice and two keyboards aimed at different gaming genres and a trio of noise-cancelling headsets. Read More

Sony has been quick to commercialize the prototype 'Personal 3D Viewer' HMD (Head Mounted Display) we first saw at CES earlier this year, announcing a much-changed version at IFA in Berlin a few hours ago which will be known as the HMZ-T1. Like most Sony product, the new HMZ-T1 will attract premium pricing, landing in stores in time for Christmas with a price tag in the vicinity of US$780. That's still a lot cheaper than a Bravia though, and the twin hi-def (1280 x 720) 0.7-inch OLED screens simulate a real 750-inch movie theater screen at a viewing distance of 20 meters. The advantage of the OLED technology is that it has very fast (0.01 millisecond) response times, rendering smooth life-like video of the fast-moving imagery encountered in gaming and watching sport. Two of Gizmag's team tried the new HMDs ... Read More